A Great Gatsby' party with spirited sips and noshes

The parties in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic novel are the stuff of legend, not only in fictional West Egg but the real world as well.

Now “The Great Gatsby” is inspiring Champagne-soaked soirees from coast to coast. New York City’s Plaza Hotel, a Fitzgerald hangout featured in both the book and Baz Luhrmann’s movie, opening May 10, is celebrating by turning its famous lounge into a Gatsby-esque Moet Champagne Bar with Imperial Gatsby cocktails.

In Oakland, Calif., flappers and dandies danced the night away at a Gatsby fete at the Scottish Rite center in January and celebrated Gatsby-style at the Art Deco Preservation Ball held recently at the Paramount Theatre.

If you’re throwing a Gatsby party of your own, Fitzgerald’s prose evokes plenty of atmosphere. It’s a tad short on usable details, though, unless you find the descriptions of “pastry pigs” and “salads of harlequin design” enough to go on.

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The upside? You can be inspired by the book, the movie and the period without being too literal, says Madrona Manor chef Jesse Mallgren.

“Keep it light and fun and festive,” he says. “A mixture of picnicky stuff, badminton and some passed hors d’oeuvres as well -- formality and picnic stuff are part of the whole novel.”

Mallgren’s menu may be too gloriously over-the-top for a DIY backyard party, but guests at the Madrona Manor garden party will surely enjoy the crisp, tempura oysters wrapped in spicy, house-cured Carolina ham (Mallgren says oysters and ham is one of his favorite flavor combinations), whole suckling pig, Waldorf salad and lobster hash with chervil and caviar.

Flapper-approved gin rickeys, Champagne and slider-sized fried chicken sandwiches are also great picnic fare. Mallgren will serve his fried chicken noshes with a Sierra Nevada ale-infused aioli -- a nod, he says, to a late-night scene in which Daisy and Tom Buchanan talk over a plate of cold fried chicken and two bottles of ale.

Champagne is de rigueur for any Gatsby party, but costumes and vintage cocktails really set the scene, say party planners Adine Le and Kendra Rimbach, whose Perfectly Party company did the Scottish Rite event. They served bathtub gin fizzes, dirty martinis, mint juleps and, Le says, “little nibbles.”

“Deviled eggs were popular back then, so we did deviled eggs punched up with shallots and garlic, Waldorf salad in endive cups, diced melon on baguettes, mini brownies. Really doable yummy stuff,” she says. “People pulled out vintage things from their moms or from vintage shops, gorgeous dropped-waist dresses, headpieces.”

Retro cocktails are always fun, says New York literary-cocktail buff and Broadway actor Tim Federle, but you can create your own riffs on the theme, too. Federle just published “Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist” (Running Press, $15, 160 pages), which includes recipes for everything from “A Cocktail of Two Cities” to “A Rum of One’s Own” -- but no Gatsby. So he designed a Grapefruit Gatsby just for us.

“Classy enough for the old-money crowd and foolproof enough for the rest of us,” he says, “this sour twist on the flapper-era mimosa tastes like all doomed romances: one-part bittersweet and one-part bubbly.”

It’s a Champagne and grapefruit cocktail, served in a flute and garnished, of course, with a daisy.

Waldorf Salad in Lettuce Cups

Makes 8-10 canapes

Note: Instead of tossing the salad with mayonnaise, this cocktail party variation puts the lemony dressing under the apple mixture for visual appeal.

1 Granny Smith apple

Zest and juice of 1 Meyer lemon

2 stalks celery, diced

2 tbs red onion, minced

½ cup walnuts, toasted, coarsely chopped

½ cup dried cranberries

Fresh dill, minced

Salt, pepper

8 to 10 leaves gem lettuce

Dressing:

2 tbs mayonnaise

½ to 1 tsp Meyer lemon juice, to taste

½ tsp simple syrup or honey, to taste

Cut the unpeeled apple into eighths, remove core and slice into small triangles. Transfer the apples to a nonreactive bowl; sprinkle with some of the Meyer lemon juice to prevent browning. Reserve 1 teaspoon juice for the dressing.

In a shallow bowl, beat egg and ale. Mix flour, cayenne, paprika and salt; divide between two shallow bowls (you can put all the flour in one bowl, but it’s less gloppy this way). Dredge each piece of chicken in flour, dip in egg, then dredge in second bowl of flour to coat.

Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet, set over medium-high heat until a crumb dropped into the oil instantly sizzles. Working in batches to avoid crowding, fry chicken until golden brown and cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels.

In a large nonreactive bowl, toss drained onions with cabbage, carrots, jalapenos and lemon zest. Whisk together oil, 2 to 3 teaspoons vinegar, mustard, shallots and salt and pepper to taste. Add just enough dressing to the slaw to moisten it.

Split the slider rolls and toast them. Fill with fried chicken and slaw, and serve.

Jackie Burrell

Moët Imperial Gatsby

Serves 1 flapper or “Gatsby” fan

1 sugar cube soaked in ¼ ounce Green Chartreuse

5 ounces Moët Imperial

Spiral lime twist

Place chartreuse-soaked sugar cube in the bottom of a flute. Top with Champagne. Garnish with the lime twist.

Recipe by Jim Meehan for the Moët Champagne Bar, The Plaza Hotel, New York